Commentators:Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael/0

Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael

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Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael

Name	Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael מכילתא דרבי ישמעאל
Dates	3rd century
Place	Eretz Yisrael
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• Common names – מכילתא, מכילתא דרבי ישמעאל¹
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¹ This page will use the abbreviation MekRY.
The Aramaic word Mekhilta (מכילתא) is equivalent to the Hebrew “מידה”, which can mean “measure” and “rule”, as in the י"ג מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן. Mekhilta has also come to mean a tractate containing exegesis by such rules (similar to the way the word canon (a body of ecclesiastical law) comes from the Greek kanṓn which originally meant a measuring rod, and then a rule). See Stemberger and Strack: 252.
In Gaonic literature, and Rambam’s introduction to Mishneh Torah, the term Mekhilta can refer to all halakhic midrash on Shemot through Devarim.
The earliest references to this midrash as Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael are found in writings of R. Shmuel b. Chofni Gaon and R. Nissim Gaon. The name probably stemmed from the fact that R. Yishmael is the first sage appearing in the text as interpreting a verse from Shemot. The idea that this midrash was produced by the school of R. Yishmael is an innovation of modern scholarship and not found earlier.